Title IX: No Fox Left Behind - What’s It About?
The Title IX Office has formed a student coalition to work towards ending sex and gender-based violence
No Fox Left Behind Logo. Source: Title IX Office
No Fox Left Behind (NFLB) is a coalition of students, faculty and staff who gather together with the goal of protecting the Marist campus from sex and gender-based violence.
The group was formed in affiliation with the Marist Title IX office and currently has five members. The group is in the process of getting chartered by SGA, and once it receives more interest and signatures - it can officially become a club.
Eliza Benfer is the outreach coordinator for the Title IX office and advises NFLB. Benfer expressed that the meetings allow her to learn more about the student’s perspectives since she is only on campus for part of the day. She explains that this helps her gear future student programming if there’s a specific need.
Benfer elaborates on this topic, saying, “For me to do my job as effectively as possible, I need to have that direct connection with students so I can get their valuable feedback and opinions.” She also explained that the meetings also give students an opportunity to learn more about what she does working in the Marist Title IX office. At the root of it, NFLB is a partnership between the Title IX office and the Marist community.
The club originated as an idea formed by two members of the Title IX branch of Marist SGA - Dominic Florio ‘24 and Caroline Fogarty ‘23, who collaborated with Benfer to create this student-run organization and get students involved with the Title IX office.
The forming of this group comes at a time when sexual harassment cases are on the rise. According to a report conducted by PBS, college students face higher risks of sexual assault post-pandemic than in the past.
Kenyora Parham, the executive director of the nationwide organization, “End Rape on Campus,” expressed that this is especially jarring for freshmen and sophomores in college as “[they] are coming in for the first time and haven’t been exposed to this new way of learning and formulating new friendship groups and trying to just figure out their way, especially in terms of living on campus for the first time on their own, away from their parents or guardians.”
No Fox Left Behind is an extracurricular club to get involved in if you are interested in combating sex and gender-based violence on campus and beyond.
Anyone who is interested in joining No Fox Left Behind or has any Title IX related concerns can contact Eliza Benfer at eliza.benfer@marist.edu or message their Instagram account @nofoxleftbehind.